The Best Side Hustle Options for Theatre Majors
I love to help creative business owners succeed. That’s my big goal. It’s why I started my business and why I offer the services I do. But I have a secret side quest. I want to empower former theatre majors (and all liberal arts graduates) to become wealthy. That’s why I’ve put together this list of the best side hustle options for theatre majors.
We theatre kids get a lot of flack. The second you choose a liberal arts degree path, you’re going to get a lot of feedback about why you chose it and what job will you do and how will you make any money. Added on top of that is the intrinsic, pervasive idea that to be a good artist you must forsake financial success.
Plainly put, that is garbage.
Liberal arts (and specifically theatre) graduates are some of the most passionate, hard-working people I’ve ever met. These are adults who work full time and then spend multiple evenings working on a performance for little to no money out of passion for their art. That’s incredible! It should be celebrated, but sadly that’s not often the case.
No more! I’m celebrating you! And I think you have all of the skills to reach whatever financial goal you’re striving for.
Want to work for yourself? Want to set up an incredible retirement fund? Want to fund or underwrite a performance? Want to start a theatre scholarship? Let’s get you going! You beautiful, clever, talented liberal art graduate are going to succeed beyond your wildest dreams.
Why Theatre Majors Make Great Entrepreneurs
Now, I will say that I am, in fact, a theatre graduate. I have a BA and MA in performance studies. So perhaps I’m a little biased. However, I run into a lot of former theatre and liberal arts graduates at networking events, and we get things done!
- Creative Thinking: One of the most undervalued skills of all. Theatre is all about creativity. Actors, directors, and designers must constantly come up with new ideas to bring stories to life. This creativity is essential for entrepreneurs, who must come up with new business ideas, pivots, and new ways to solve problems.
- Resourcefulness: Theatre grads are used to working with limited budgets and resources. They are also used to adapting to change. These skills are essential for entrepreneurs, who must often make do with what they have and be able to make their business successful.
- Collaboration: Liberal arts graduates are used to working with others to achieve a common goal. They are also skilled at communicating with audiences. These skills are essential for entrepreneurs, who must be able to communicate their vision to others and build relationships with customers and partners.
Best Side Hustle Options for Theatre Majors
- Social Media Influencer: This is one of the best fits for theatre artists who miss being onstage. Create your character (they can be as authentic or not to you as you’d like), sign up for affiliate marketing, and get to posting.
- Voiceover Performance: Another great option for experienced performers is voiceover acting. Whether it’s for an audiobook or a local commercial, you can definitely create a steady stream of income through voiceover work.
- Visual Display Artist: Calling all lovers of set design. Visual display art (like window displays, shop displays, etc) is a massively growing industry. You have the construction knowledge and creative eye to be seriously successful in this. Bonus: no actors will be wandering around your creations. I know how you feel about that.
- Interior Design: Interior design has a relatively low barrier of entry. With a background in set design or a really good eye for color, shape, and texture, you can translate your theatre skills to a lucrative business in interior design.
- Event and Wedding Design: Having been a wedding planner before, I can tell you that the wedding industry is chock full of former theatre majors. Personally, I think that’s why weddings have become so visually incredible and place a high premium on experience and atmosphere. Designing a wedding or event is a lot like planning a production, so your theatre skills are going to translate beautifully.
- Prop Styling: A prop stylist works on photo shoots ensuring that the visuals look correct and tell a story. Again, experience in telling visual stories (ahem, let’s call them plays) will give you a leg up here.
- Home Staging: Set designers can use their skills to stage homes for sale to make them more appealing to potential buyers. You can essentially set dress homes temporarily while the realtors work on the other aspects of selling the house. This is a great side hustle that has a high profit margin.
- Wedding Seamstress: Costume designers and seamstresses, put your talents to use in the wedding industry. Wedding dress tailoring is a lucrative business, even for the soloprenuer. So long as you know what you’re doing, you will never be short of business here!
- Professional Seamstress/Tailor: As more and more people move away from fast fashion, a growing need has arisen for professional tailors. With some sewing experience, you’ll be able to develop a regular side hustle (and potentially more) out of your home.
- Cosplay Costume Designer: If you miss the extreme colors and passion of theatre costumes, becoming a cosplay costume designer is for you. Put all of your costume construction skills to use and get to making!
- Personal Stylist: Starting a personal styling business is a great idea for former costume designers and even actors to utilize their clothing and style skills. If you’ve got an eye for how clothes can fit and accentuate a person as well as how to tell a story with them, this is a great business opportunity.
- Wedding/Event Planner: Weddings are productions, plain and simple. If you miss planning and directing theatre performances and want to grow your income, start a wedding planning business. Very little is required to start, and the sky is the limit as to how far you can grow.
- Professional Meeting Planner: Professional meeting planners are the corporate versions of wedding planners. After acquiring a professional meeting planner certificate, you can be planning events of all sizes for the corporate world. Again, these are productions where instead of actors you have business people.
- Social Media Manager: Every theatre major I know has done their fair share of marketing. Put your social media skills and creativity to work by helping other businesses with their social media platforms.
- Virtual Assistant: If you have every planned out a performance and rehearsal schedule and coordinated with departments and performers, you have every skill you need to be an incredibly successful virtual assistant.
- Corporate and Medical Role Play Performer: Did you know corporations and medical schools hire actors to help their employees and students get practice in their new roles? These are great jobs for actors who are looking for a few odd jobs to add to their income. They’re easy and expand your professional network.
- Event DJ or Emcee: If talking in front of a crowd is easy for you, get paid for it! Event emcees, especially good ones who don’t come off as weirdos, are hard to come by. Bring your personality and professionalism for success.
- Furniture Restoration: Grads with set design and construction experience can make some serious cash with furniture restoration. Just a tip, if you can brush up your upholstery skills, you’ll be able to charge even more.
- Event Florist: The visual lexicon and skills that theatre students learn are the same ones that make a great florist. Study up and practice working with florals, and then let your creativity take the reigns. You’ll be booked before you know it.
- Tour Guide: Again, your ability to talk to large groups of people is a profitable skill! You can work with local tour companies as one of their regular guides or set up an exponential tour that you sell and book through Airbnb.
Let’s get #richtheatrekids happening with this list of the best side hustle options for theatre majors. Our skills are valuable and translate across so many fields. Let’s end that starving artist nonsense for good.
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Having been a visual artist for over 10 years, I know that every part of a brand (even the parts that are often unseen) deserve to be expressed with honesty and beauty. I am happiest standing behind the scenes, creating every design and detail for focused and intentional business owners. I created EP Design to stand beside visionaries and thought leaders who are fueled by joy.
